Rock - Alt-J
Alt-J (∆) was formed in 2007 in England by members Joe Newman (guitar/lead vocals), Thom Sonny Green (drums), Gus Unger-Hamilton (keyboard/vocals), and Gwil Sainsbury (guitar/bass). After 5 years, they released their debut album, An Awesome Wave. In early 2014, Sainsbury left the band. Despite his withdrawal, Alt-J released their second album, This is All Yours, in September 2014. The album contained the chart-topping singles: “Every Other Freckle”, “Left Hand Free”, and “Hunger of the Pine”. “Every Other Freckle” was featured in an episode of Lovesick, “Left Hand Free” was used in Captain America: Civil War, and “Hunger of the Pine” is featured a couple times in Unreal. Their third album, Relaxer, came out in June 2017. It featured their newest singles: “3WW”, “In Cold Blood”, “Adeline”, “Deadcrush”, and “Pleader”. In 2018, they released Reduxer, which is a “rap heavy do-over” of Relaxer.
Folk - Noah Gundersen
Noah Gundersen began his music career with his band, The Courage. The band members consisted of his friends and his 16-year-old sister. The Courage were together from 2008-2011, and released 2 albums, Fearful Bones (2010) and We Love This Comp, Vol. One (2011). Gundersen left the group to continue his solo career. He released his third solo EP, Family, in 2011, followed by both an LP and EP in 2014. He has consistently released an EP every year since 2014. Tour, Gundersen’s latest EP, was released in September 2018. Of his 12 albums, his top singles are “Day is Gone”, “Slow Dancer”, “The Sound”, “Poor Man’s Son”, and “Jealous Love”.
Pop - Tally Hall
Tally Hall has been making fun and eccentric music since 2002. The 5 members can be easily recognized by the colors of their ties: Rob Cantor (yellow, guitar/vocals), Ross Federman (grey, drums), Joe Hawley (red, guitar/vocals), Andrew Horowitz (green, keyboards/vocals), Zubin Sedghi (blue, bass/vocals). Tally Hall has released 3 studio albums and 4 EPs. Their first studio album, Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum, was released in 2005. There were no singles on this album, but the first song I heard from them, “Banana Man” was on this album. M. M. M. M. was re-released in 2008. The 2008 edition contained their first single, “Good Day”, along with a vinyl LP of the album. Their 2nd album, Good & Evil (2011), featured 2 singles, “&” and “You & Me”. Their 3rd album, Complete Demos (2004), is a compilation of their first 2 EPs.
R&B - Ari Lennox
Ari Lennox began her music career in 2015 when she was featured on Omen’s track “Sweat it Out”. A year later, she released her debut EP Pho. In 2017, she did a collab with J. Cole on his song “Change” and was featured as an opening act on J. Cole’s 4 Your Eyez Only tour. She has begun releasing her own singles in preparation for her debut album. The singles “Whipped Cream”, “40 Shades of Choke”, and “Grampa” were all released in 2018. No details on her debut album have been released at this time.
Electronic - Sigrid Solbakk Raabe
Hailing from Norway, Sigrid Solbakk Raabe is a 22-year-old singer/songwriter. Her debut single, “Sun”, launched her career in 2013. In 2017, she released her next single, “Don’t Kill My Vibe”, which topped charts in Norway, Australia, and the UK. Her latest single, “Sucker Punch”, was released in 2018 and topped charts in Norway, Belgium, and Scotland. Her first studio album, Sucker Punch, has been announced for March 2019.